Aussie Player Exodus

[Quick Hands]

Not exactly disbanding it, though, but replacing it with 2 x U21 comps run in parallel with the NSW & Queensland Cups which are virtually the old Reserve Grade in drag. More teams than the old U20's incl from PNG (Q Cup) & unless it's fallen over Fiji (NSW). If anything this represents a bigger threat in terms of player drain than the old setup.

Interesting that they've managed to include "impoverished third world countries" in their competitions. The very thing that some people (not you) say is impossible for rugby.

 

[swingpass]

I think the exodus has been huge. However only one significant player of note who would be a certain starter: Kepu.

not really
my original premise was that a lot of fringe wallabies and experienced super players would go before the RWC to avoid the post cup rush. i don't think thats happened

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Interesting that they've managed to include "impoverished third world countries" in their competitions. The very thing that some people (not you) say is impossible for rugby.

Yes but league is huge in PNG so they have the infrastructure to support a Q-Cup side but it's unlikely that'll ever lead to a full NRL licence. Last I read about the Fiji team they were going to be based in or near Sydney at first while the Fijian league works on getting their facilities sorted. That could take a while, one suspects (unless Bananarama decrees that league not Rugby 7's is now Fiji's go).

Probably the wrong thread but IMO what league is doing, largely in response to what AFL has been doing for some years now, makes it imperative that ARU somehow get the game into the state schools in areas like Brisbane's Southside & Sydney's West. Huge potential player & supporter pools with existing & proven interest in our game but largely ignored.

 

[Braveheart81]

Interesting that they've managed to include "impoverished third world countries" in their competitions. The very thing that some people (not you) say is impossible for rugby.

In a youth competition where players will be paid minimal amounts and have no alternative options to be paid more. You're comparing apples to oranges.

The same example in Super Rugby would be competing for players on lucrative professional contracts in Europe, New Zealand or possibly Australia.

 

[boyo]

That isn't what you stated.



Now consider the Mean wage (not the average) and consider that those people, the vast majority of the fan base will be paying off their mortgage till the day they kark, not worrying if their highly paid entertainment career will get them enough dosh in 10 years to pay for everything they will need. That is the point that 99% of posters do get @ IS.

People will take what ever career path they want, for the reasons they choose, it is their choice, but they must accept the downsides to it as well, and the downside in the entertainment industry is that the respect one is afforded for a moral stance may in the long term yield results both financial and personal or it very well may not, but the fact remains that taking the cash early is frowned upon by many inside the standard deviation.

Isn't the mean the average?

The median is often a different thing.

 

[Braveheart81]

Mean is the same as average.

Median is the middle number in a sequence.

 

[Gnostic]

Mean is the same as average.

Median is the middle number in a sequence.

A mean is not an average. The mean taking into account the standard deviation, median is more closely associated with the strict definition of average. Check the theory of large numbers for a full explanation.

 

[Quick Hands]

In a youth competition where players will be paid minimal amounts and have no alternative options to be paid more. You're comparing apples to oranges.

No, it's the first step in a long term plan.

 

[Braveheart81]

It's such a shame that rugby is a global game and there are opportunities for Fijian players to earn good incomes playing in Europe and New Zealand etc.

If only that wasn't the case their best players could be paid peanuts to play locally in Fiji!

 

[wamberal]

It's such a shame that rugby is a global game and there are opportunities for Fijian players to earn good incomes playing in Europe and New Zealand etc.

If only that wasn't the case their best players could be paid peanuts to play locally in Fiji!

Or they could play NRL in Australia, not to mention the lesser loig competitions that offer pretty good wages.

 

[Quick Hands]

It's such a shame that rugby is a global game and there are opportunities for Fijian players to earn good incomes playing in Europe and New Zealand etc.

If only that wasn't the case their best players could be paid peanuts to play locally in Fiji!

And you seem hell bent on keeping it that way and won't even entertain any possibility of change.

 

[Quick Hands]

Or they could play NRL in Australia, not to mention the lesser loig competitions that offer pretty good wages.

But the NRL have decided to make a long term attempt to grow their game out of its small pond. They may or may not succeed, but at least they have a plan and some vision.

 

[Spieber]

The Romanian SuperLiga is a partly professional competition. Quite a few Tongans and other international players involved in it now. Sosene Anesi (1 cap All Black) is there for example.

http://www.itsrugby.co.uk/result-rumania2-2013.html
A good site to keep track of the Aussie player exodus. I counted 7 in Rumania including Samuel Tobias Chandler Gerry-Burgess and some other leaguies!

 

[Braveheart81]

And you seem hell bent on keeping it that way and won't even entertain any possibility of change.

Professional rugby players in Australia or New Zealand or elsewhere are well paid but besides a very few, they're not incredibly well paid. They're fairly normal members of society who just happen to play sport for a living.

The big difference making it impossible to get players to do that in Fiji is you either need to prop it up with vast amounts of money to make it equivalent for the players that otherwise have the opportunity to play elsewhere or demand those players sacrifice what they could earn elsewhere to live on a local wage.

But the NRL have decided to make a long term attempt to grow their game out of its small pond. They may or may not succeed, but at least they have a plan and some vision.

Rugby union has already moved past that. You can already play rugby union for no money in Fiji.

If you're good enough, you can leave Fiji and earn a salary 10-100 times the average salary in Fiji and be able to send money back to Fiji to help support your wider family as many Fijian expats in any career do. The same applies in Tonga or Samoa.

The players having opportunities elsewhere that far outweigh the opportunities they have at home are what makes the premise pretty much impossible. The same applies for pretty much anyone who can leave one of the Pacific nations and live in and be employed in a far more affluent country like Australia or New Zealand.

They make more difference to the local economy by living elsewhere and sending money home than they ever could doing that locally.

 

[qwerty51]

not really
my original premise was that a lot of fringe wallabies and experienced super players would go before the RWC to avoid the post cup rush. i don't think thats happened

I don't know what you were expecting but it's certainly the biggest exodus ever.

Higginbotham, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Horwill, Genia, McKibbin, Kepu, White, Alo-Emile, Cooper?

Still plenty more to come too.

 

[swingpass]

I don't know what you were expecting but it's certainly the biggest exodus ever.

Higginbotham, AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper), Horwill, Genia, McKibbin, Kepu, White, Alo-Emile, Cooper?

Still plenty more to come too.

in that group i would class McKibbin and PAE only as fringe etc. as said originally this was players going before not after RWC, a la Pyle and Douglas and the HoneyB. ie to leave australian rugby in 2014. i fully expected several of the senior Wallabies to decamp after september, Kepu and White are about the only surprises, for me. and yes i also expect more to go after this super season.

 

[TOCC]

But the NRL have decided to make a long term attempt to grow their game out of its small pond. They may or may not succeed, but at least they have a plan and some vision.

So who are you pointing that finger at as to not having a plan or vision?

 

[terry j]

It's such a shame that rugby is a global game and there are opportunities for Fijian players to earn good incomes playing in Europe and New Zealand etc.

If only that wasn't the case their best players could be paid peanuts to play locally in Fiji!

or coconuts.

 

[Quick Hands]

So who are you pointing that finger at as to not having a plan or vision?

Anyone who doesn't have some plan or vision for improving the current situation.

What's yours?

 

[Quick Hands]

Rugby union has already moved past that. You can already play rugby union for no money in Fiji.

If you're good enough, you can leave Fiji and earn a salary 10-100 times the average salary in Fiji and be able to send money back to Fiji to help support your wider family as many Fijian expats in any career do. The same applies in Tonga or Samoa.

The players having opportunities elsewhere that far outweigh the opportunities they have at home are what makes the premise pretty much impossible. The same applies for pretty much anyone who can leave one of the Pacific nations and live in and be employed in a far more affluent country like Australia or New Zealand.

They make more difference to the local economy by living elsewhere and sending money home than they ever could doing that locally.

You're talking about the present and your are correct.

I'm talking about future possibilities - things which might happen, things which would be good for rugby and good for the locals if they did happen. Not certainties, not anything that's going to happen in the next 10 years. Things may never happen, but they certainly won't happen unless people have ideas, however optimistic they may be.

One thing is for certain, if people aren't floating ideas and constantly looking for improvement then nothing ever happens and things actually go backwards.